Walk - Victoria Park Heritage Walk

Door open days

15 September 2018
(Sat 15th & Sun 16th, 2pm; 90 minutes)

16 September 2018

Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival

Sample heritage and culture from prehistoric times, meeting 19th century benefactors, and remembering those who died on the SS Daphne and World War I. Learn too about the wildlife visitors to the Park.

Discover with local guides past present and future of Victoria Park. This walk appeals to young and old, residents far and wide as there is so much to learn about the Park.

We start at the Jubilee Gates commemorating the Queen's jubilee/opening in 1887. We learn about those Victorians who gifted the land and importance of the Park as Glasgow's green space. We pause at the SS Daphne memorial stressing the importance of shipbuilding to the communities served by the Park.

The Park has been enjoyed for over a hundred years since it was created. We visit the important features, some that no longer exist as well as those in current use. We illustrate how important the Park is and was for leisure pursuits. We will stop at sites to learn about the former bandstand, Oswald Clock and formal gardens, a significant ornamental feature of the Park.

The walk includes a visit to the famous Fossil Grove with its preserved fossil tree trunks aged at 300 million years old discovered when the Park was being developed. We reflect on the sacrifice of the First World War and the impact on the local community at the listed memorial unveiled in 1922.

We will pause at the ornamental boating and duck pond to learn about the Park's many active wildlife visitors, swans and ducks.

The walk will finish at the Partick Curling Pavilion formed in 1842 and one of the first arrivals in the Park in 1887. The Partick Curling Pavilion will also be part of Open Doors so there will be time at the end of the walk to stay and enjoy a coffee or tea as part of the celebrations.